Flight MH370’s off course direction is injecting more questions into an already thorny investigation of the missing Malaysia airline – now into its fourth day. Recent news reports show that the aircraft was hundreds of miles off course, changing direction from its last reported position over the Gulf of Thailand and making it to the Strait of Malacca, on the west side of the Malaysian peninsula.

Did missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 fly off course? It appears increasingly likely that it did, as a huge search along its planned route has turned up no results.

According to ABC News on March 11, “American authorities were informed by Malaysian officials Monday that they have information suggesting the plane went west. The reason for the possible turn was not known. Consequently, the search area has been expanded to include west coast of Malaysia.”

Wreckage of the plane has yet to be found, despite numerous reports of alleged evidence, such as oil slicks in the sea, a floating life raft and a part of the plane’s door off the main fuselage, all debunked as belonging to the missing Boeing 777.

Malaysian air force chief Gen. Rodzali Daud said radar from a military outpost had detected the rogue plane via radar, flying low at 2:40 a.m. Saturday near the the northern approach to the strait.

“After that, the signal from the plane was lost,” Daud said.

The jet’s flight path from Kuala Lumpur on the western coast of Malaysia to Beijing, China, would have taken it on a north and northeast direction over the Gulf of Thailand and toward the coast of Cambodia and Vietnam. Officials believe the plane may have attempted to turn around, unannounced, and may have crashed into Malaysian jungles or into the Andaman Sea, north of the Malacca Strait.

The aircraft was carrying 239 people. Over 40 planes and dozens of ships from at least 10 nations have been diligently combing through the waters.

In other recent developments, officials confirmed that the two individuals that boarded the flight using stolen passports were of Iranian descent – fueling conjecture of a possible terrorist link to the plane's downing.

However, Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said the two men have all but been ruled out as being connected to any terrorist organization. He said speculation is dying down “as the belief becomes more certain that these two individuals were probably not terrorists.”

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